


buildings with one hundred floors

by torigates



Category: Young Justice (Cartoon)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-10-16
Updated: 2011-10-16
Packaged: 2017-12-31 12:30:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,500
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1031731
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/torigates/pseuds/torigates
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Five times Artemis got Wally to slow down</p>
            </blockquote>





	buildings with one hundred floors

  
**one.**

 

 

 

It starts unsurprisingly all things considered, with food.

They’re back at Mount Justice after a long mission, and everyone is exhausted. Superboy had collapsed into one of the kitchen chairs, and immediately M’gann had sat down in his lap. Robin had simply lain down on the floor, his arms and legs spread eagle, and Kaldur had hovered for a moment trying to look dignified, before flopping down in a chair next to Conner and M’gann.

Artemis was seriously contemplating joining Robin on the floor. It was calling her.

Wally was in the fridge.

Artemis watched, aghast as he pulled out what looked like the entire contents, and methodically began to cram them into his mouth.

“What?” he asked, when he caught her staring.

“You’re going to choke,” she said.

He shrugged and stuffed three cookies into his mouth. “I’m hungry,” he said.

She arched an eyebrow. “Yeah, I got that. Take a breath between mouthfuls before one of us has to perform the Heimlich.”

“Are you offering to give me mouth to mouth?” he asked wiggling his eyebrows.

She rolled her eyes. “Dream on,” she said.

There was a chorus of groans and disgusted sounds from the rest of the team. Artemis thought she heard Robin chuckling, but it was muffled by the floor.

He took a deep breath, and hiccuped.

 

 

 

**two.**

 

 

 

It’s another team training session, and Artemis was watching Wally and Robin spar. Watching the two of them together is more impressive than she would ever be willing to admit out loud, probably because they’ve known and worked together for so long. Way longer than the rest of the team.

Wally was zipping around the practice ring, to the point where he looked like a yellow blur. Every so often Robin would make a flying leap, and sometimes he’d actually land on Wally’s back, the two of them crashing down to the ground in a heap of limps. Then, Wally would shake him off and be up and moving again.

“You gonna stop running away anytime soon?” Robin asked, sticking out his leg and causing Wally to go flying head first into Artemis.

She let out a gasp and they crashed into the ground together, all the air knocked out of his lungs.

“Ow,” she said when she could breathe again, and rubbed her ribs.

“Sorry,” Wally said. He looked like he wanted to reach out and check if she was okay, but the look of her face must have forced him to reconsider.

“You might want to try actually _looking_ at your opponent,” Artemis suggested with a scowl.

“Right, right,” he said, and turned back to the ring, with only a quick look back at her.

This time he didn’t take off right away, instead he and Robin circled each other for a couple long moments. Finally, Robin lunged, and too quick for anyone to see, Wally had zipped across the ring, and pinned him down on the mat.

 

 

 

**three.**

 

 

 

Artemis and Wally were crouched behind a boulder, waiting for word from Superboy and Miss Martian that the building they’re watching has been vacated. Batman had said this was supposed to be “their easiest mission yet,” but Artemis was convinced he said that on purpose just to jinx him.

(She had repeated those words in her head, mocking Batman’s tone, and Robin had chewed her out for five solid minutes.)

Wally was literally vibrating from side to side with pent up energy.

“Shouldn’t have had that last snack,” she said to him.

He scoffed.

Finally, M’gann’s voiced sounded in her head. “All clear. You can set the charges now,” and Artemis _felt_ all the muscles in Wally’s body tense as he prepared to dart forward.

“Wait!” she hissed putting a hand on his shoulder. He looked down at her touching him.

“What?” he asked.

She nodded to the lone figure in the distance. It looked like a security guard.

“He’s early!” Wally said. “He’s not supposed to be doing his rounds for another fifteen minutes.”

“We’ll just have to wait for him to pass,” she said.

They sat in silence for five agonizing minutes until the guard was out of sight. It wasn’t until they started moving that she realised she had never taken her hand off his arm.

 

 

 

**four.**

 

 

 

Artemis sat on her hands to keep from fidgeting.

Robin was pacing back and forth in front of the infirmary doors, M’gann and Conner were sitting in the chairs next to her, and Kaldur was standing next to the door. If she didn’t know him better, she would assume he was trying to eavesdrop on the conversation going on behind it.

She could hear Robin muttering under his breath, something about a supposedly fast metabolism.

After what felt like forever, Batman stepped out of the room. Robin was at his side in an instant. Batman glanced down at him before turning to the rest of the group. “Kid Flash is fine,” he said. She let out a tiny breath, and heard the others do the same. “He has a broken arm, but all things considered it’s not as bad as it could have been.” He looked back down at Robin. “He has a fast metabolism.”

“Can we go in?” Robin asked.

“You may,” Batman said.

The rest of the team filed into the room, and she could hear them chatting together. Everyone sounded happy. He sounded fine.

She couldn’t force herself to move. Her fingers began to lose feeling.

She ran.

Later that night, she poked her head into the infirmary. Wally was propped up on what looked like approximately ten thousand pillows. He he an open package of cookies on his lap, and he was popping them into his mouth one after another.

“Hey,” he said, a slow smile spreading over his face when he saw her.

She tried to smile back.

“What?” he asked. “I need to eat,” he said defensively. “To heal.”

She nodded. “Of course.”

“I was wondering where you got to,” he said.

She rubbed the back of her neck. “I just had to,” she gestured over her shoulder.

Wally nodded. “Sure,” he said.

“Please be more careful from now on,” she blurted.

“Yeah,” he said. “Yeah, I will.”

 

 

 

**five.**

 

 

 

Artemis was enjoying some rare alone time at Mount Justice. Sometimes she would sneak over and watch her favourite shows on the Food Network, because they didn’t get any of the good channels at home.

There was a faint rustle and a dip in the couch. She looked over to see Wally sitting next to her.

“Shit,” she said. Her heart was pounding. “You scared the crap outta me.”

He grinned at her. “Sorry,” he said, not looking sorry at all.

She turned back to the television, but she could still see him smiling at her out of the corner of her eye. After a moment, she started to feel weird. He was just sitting there. Quietly.

“So,” he said.

“So,” she said, and turned to face him. He didn’t say anything. She raised her eyebrows, waiting for him to go on.

“I think we should go out on a date,” he said.

She choked and shook her head. “What?” she asked, sure she had misheard him.

“A date,” he said, blushing from the base of his neck to his hairline. “I think we should go on one.” The smile on his face fell as she continued to stare at him.

“No!” she blurted.

“Oh,” he said. “Yeah, okay.” He stood to leave. She grabbed his hand, and he looked down at where their hands were joined. She felt the colour in her cheeks rising.

“Wait,” she said. “Don’t leave.” He sat back down. The two of them sat in silence. She could feel the minutes stretching between them, and she noticed she was still holding his hand. “Why would you want to go on a date with me?” she asked.

He shrugged, and seemed to consider her question. “I like you,” he said simply.

“ _Why_?” she asked.

He stared at her. “What do you mean, ‘why’?” The look on his face was completely bewildered, like she just uttered the stupidest words possible. The sincerity on his face made her blush. “You’re smart and funny and beautiful and you can kick my ass, and you’re _awesome_.”

She stared at him, unsure what to say. She wasn’t used to this. To having friends and people who cared about her, and said nice things and _meant_ them.

“Anyway,” he said. “I’ll... go. Now.”

She panicked and grabbed his arm, yanking him back down next to her. He stared at her, and she knew it was her turn to say something. She had to say something. Anything. But the words wouldn’t come. She didn’t know what to say. All she knew was that she didn’t want him to leave.

“Don’t go,” she said, and reached for his other arm. She ran her hands up over his shoulders, pulled him to her, and kissed him.


End file.
